If you missed my post on Monday, I recently finished a few tops for myself that featured a sewn body and crocheted yoke. Today, I'm sharing a tutorial so you can make your own!

This project is designed for a beginner sewer and a crocheter with a set of a few beginner skills. The crochet portion is a take on the classic granny square, and works up quickly. If you need a step-by-step tutorial on working the components that make the 3-DC cluster in a granny square, you can view our Granny Square Triangle tutorial here.

I have quite a hefty fabric stash, and sew often, and now I can't look at a cut of fabric without thinking "what color of The Fibre Co. Meadow will look good with this piece?"

Enjoy! - KGO

CROCHET / SEWN TOP, PART ONE: SEWING

MATERIALS LIST:• 1.5-2 yards cotton fabricImportant: make sure to pre wash and dry your fabric. I recommend lighter weight woven fabrics such as double gauze, linen, chambray, lawn, or voile. Your fabric and yarn yardage may be more / less than estimated due to the size you chose to make and final depth of your yoke and length of top. I have found a good yardage estimate is # of inches in A (see step 1) multiplied by 2. • Around 300 yards Laceweight yarn. I used The Fibre Co. Meadow. • Size E (3.5 mm) crochet hook• Size G (4 mm) crochet hook• Notions: Large eye hand sewing needle, coordinating sewing thread, pins, marking tool (chalk, disappearing ink, etc), sewing gauge, straight edge ruler. I used a size 1 John James cotton darner for my needle, and it was just large enough for the Meadow to fit in. I prefer the Clover chaco pens for marking my fabrics.

1 / A: When determining the desired length from your hem to the armhole, measure a few shirts you like the fit/length of. This top is meant to be loose fitting without being too baggy. I find a mid-hip length or slightly shorter is most flattering.

B: To calculate, measure around the widest part of your bust. Divide by 2. Add 3 to that number for ease, then add 2 for the 1" of seam allowance on each side. The back and front should be the exactly the same.

MY EXAMPLE: A: 15 + 3 + 1 + 2 = 21” / B: (36/2) + 3 + 1 + 1 = 23”

2 / Tip: If you have a fabric with a clear direction (as in the case of my navy version), make sure your pieces are both pinned facing the same direction, and the mark is 4" from the top so that your motifs are facing the correct way.

3 / Tip: Due to the wider seam allowance, I found it helpful to mark the sewing line down the length of the fabric. This helped to ensure I sewed a completely straight seam at the same width throughout.

4 / Tip: An edgestitch is a line of sewing a scant 1/8" from the piece that you are sewing. In this case, the edge stitch will be 1/8" from the fold of the hem.

Your body is now prepped for crocheting the yoke!

CROCHET / SEWN TOP, PART TWO: CROCHETING

6 / MY EXAMPLE: After sewing, my top width is 21” across, so my yarn is about 84” long.

7 / Tip: Stitches placed about 1/4” apart look and work the best. If you need help with working the blanket stitch, I found this to be a very clear tutorial.

10 / Once the row is complete, your 3 DC clusters shouldn't wave or pull in across the width of the piece. If you have too many clusters (your piece is waving), un-do the row, and skip 3 sc stitches a few times across, removing one or two 3 DC cluster groups. If you have too few clusters (your piece is pulling in), un-do the row, and only skip 1 stitch a few times across, adding one or two 3 DC cluster groups.

13 F / MY EXAMPLE: I want an 8" armhole, and the fabric portion of my shirt is 3", so my crochet yoke is 5".

13 B / MY EXAMPLE: My front is 11 rows total, so I worked 8 rows on the back before starting shaping.

15 / Using your larger hook, SC around the neck, connecting the steps from your front and back neck shaping using a ch2, then working a SC on each chain on the following row. I found 4 rounds of SC looked the best. Weave in any remaining ends.